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September 9, 2010

Accident causes building flood by Chelsea Erven cerven@unm.edu The Anthropology Annex basement flooded with gray water Sept. 1, leaving several archaeology labs ruined, graduate student and faculty labs unusable, and a basement ceramics class without a classroom. Mike Tuttle, manager of UNM’s Risk Management department, said Custom Grading Inc., the company McCarthy Building Companies Inc. contracted to build the new Science and Technology building next to the Anthropology Annex, made a mistake. He said McCarthy Building Companies’ insurance company will reimburse UNM for damages. “It’s going to take a few months to sort out, but it was just one of those accidents,” he said. “They felt bad about it, and they want to make it right,” he said. An incident report McCarthy filed said a grading operation caused the flood. Custom Grading covered up a manhole without notifying McCarthy or UNM, according to the report. In the next 24 hours, the sewer water backed up to the Anthropology Annex and flooded the basement. As soon as the problem was discovered, the manhole was vacuumed out and flow resumed. “Sometime during the day on Aug. 30, Custom Grading, Inc. was performing the rough grading activity on the southwest side of the new Science & Math Learning Center site,” the report said. “During the grading operation, one of the sewer manholes was displaced and a large quantity of

dirt filled the manhole.” The incident form also said the Anthropology Annex doesn’t have back check valves installed in its sewer system, which likely played a role in the flood. Wirt Wills, an anthropology professor, said the basement was filled with three to six inches of gray water that came up through drains in the floor. He said the Annex was built in 1930, and it has not undergone any major infrastructure renovations since it was built. “The basement floods almost every year. We actually lost one of our faculty members after a flood destroyed her lab and all the research she was working on,” Wills said. “There have been at least 10 major floods in the last 15 years, although this was the first flood to originate inside the building.” Wills and several graduate student volunteers spent two days moving research, equipment and artifact collections out of the basement and into storage, and he said faculty members and graduate students’ projects are stored, among other places, on office floors. Research has been temporarily halted, and faculty and graduate students are dispersed across campus. Wills said the flood ruined a DNA lab, and the ceramics class that was meeting in the basement will be will re-located. “We don’t currently have a timeline for repairs, but this has already been a major setback for research,” Wills said. “No one seems to be fixing the problem. We’ve requested upgrades, but I don’t think we are very high on anyone’s list.”

Emma Difani / Daily Lobo Stacks of film reels line the wall in the Southwest Film Center projection room. The center has three film projectors: a 35mm, 16mm and a digital projector.

Provost: Mexico unsafe by Barron Jones bjones36@unm.edu The Provost’s Office issued a Sept. 1 travel advisory in the wake of Mexico’s escalating violence. Provost Suzanne Ortega encouraged students planning to visit Mexico to educate themselves about possible dangers in the areas and to have emergency contacts. “UNM does not want to erect an academic wall by withdrawing or suspending activities from all areas Mexico in response to current security conditions,” Ortega said in the University-wide e-mail. “UNM has operated programs in Mexico for decades and has not had any reports of serious crimes against its faculty, staff or students since the onset of the ongoing wave of violence. However, the risks are real, and they vary from week to week.” Associate Journalism Professor Richard Schaefer said the provost

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sent the memo to make people aware of potential traveling hazards. UNM student Brittaney Cordova recently visited Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in May. She said she enjoyed visiting the area and didn’t allow media reports to limit her planned activities. “If I don’t put myself in bad situations, nothing bad will happen,” Cordova said. “Mexico has always been a place to take extra precaution.” Schaefer recently visited Michoacan, Mexico, as faculty adviser for Communication and Journalism’s Cross-Border Issues Group. The Cross-Border Issues Group studies policies and issues that affect the people of North and Central America. Schaefer said he did not feel threatened, but noticed that people he interacted with in Mexico were unusually nervous. Schaefer said friends and colleagues cautioned him against aggressive reporting that would offend government officials or criminals

enterprises, especially when dealing with migrant abuse issues. Schaefer compared the situation in Mexico to Chicago during prohibition, a time when widespread violence and a high murder rate consumed the city. He said the violence was isolated to participants of illegal activity. Schaefer said he worried about students behaving improperly, driving at night, getting sick and offending organized criminals. About 28,000 people have been killed since Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared war on drug cartels soon after he took office in late 2006, according to UN reports. A majority of those killed were either government representatives or cartel members. Even with those staggering numbers, Mexico’s murder rate per capita is mild compared to Colombia, South Africa, Jamaica, Venezuela and Russia, according to UN reports.

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Kyle Morgan / Daily Lobo Guerrilla Graphix on Silver Street Clothing store draws inspiration from what’s happening in the Albuquerque community. Visit DailyLobo.com for a multimedia project on the University-area shop.

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